BN-1 Nub-Wing Interceptor
The BN-1 Series Interceptor or more commonly referred to as the Nub-Wing was a small starfighter that had been designed by Rebel Hero, Bai'yle Norssohn. Having been working on the designs from around 3 ABY, his untimely death in 6 ABY would see the development of the one man fighter brought forward. The prototype fighter was completed at the Chanmea Shipyards of Stargazing Shipyards Inc just months after Norssohn had died, and at the end of the year the first test flights were being carried out. The Rebel Alliance were among one of the first to purchase large stocks of the vessel. Characteristics & History The Nub-Wing was a small fighter, one of the smallest of most starfighters coming in at only eleven meters in length, its diminutive size allowed the vessel a higher speed which was usually not seen attainable by the engine types that the small ship was fitted with. Operated by a single pilot, the ship came as standard fitted with an astromech droid, and during initial test flights, the ship was usually found piloted by Arvel Crynyd along with the aid of R2-M5. Fitted with a Class Two Hyperdrive along with Concussion Missiles, though the cost of the small vessel wasn't the cheapest, it could more than hold it's own against a swarm of fighters. Mounted at the tip of each of the wings were twin laser canons at the far side of both thrust engines, as well as further two lighter laser canon variants on the underside. The ship also integrated a solar ionisation reactor connected to the solar panels at the end of the wings. Due to the use of the solar ionisation reactor, the ship was not very well equipped to use for carrying large amounts of cargo. The design of the Nub-Fighter came about following Bai'yle Norssohn's time with Stargazing Shipyards Inc. Having fled the Empire he had initially seen himself joining the Rebellion with fellow friend Rhyley Stargazer, however when the latter decided against joining the Rebel Alliance, Norssohn was offered a position within Gern Stargazer's re-imagined S.S.I that had been established at Chanmea. Initially Norssohn began working on the S.S.I's variant of a skipray-class fighter, however he saw the need for a smaller type ship and during his spare time began designing his own variant of the Interceptor widely used during the Clone Wars. Having been able to access both the supply of ships at Chanmea, and later during his time with the Rebellion, his design slowly began to take shape. One of the first bold moves that Norssohn made, was to integrate a solar technology similar to those seen on the Empire's TIE Fighters on his interceptor. This was because of his belief that a true Interceptor shouldn't carry any cargo and be streamlined for speed above all. Thus the addition of a solar reactor and twin solar panels allowed the ship an abundant supply of natural solar power without the need of a huge reactor which would harm the speed and change the shape of the fighter. Along with this, Bai'yle would redesign the navigation system of the ship, scrapping ideas he had initially thought of and adopting a similar system of utilising astromech droids that had been seen throughout the galaxy. This sudden change came about largely through his work on the S.T.A.R.S system used within the frieghter, Rogue Star. Having been surprised with the usefulness of astromech droid R2-M5 at handling ship systems both weapons, flight and navigation, the Nub-Wing was redesigned to not only include the astromech capability, but also to allow the astromech the capability to control the ship if anything should happen to the pilot. One of the last changes the Bai'yle Norssohn actually made before his death in 6 ABY was to redesign the outer hull of the cockpit. In an homage to the memory of those lost at the Battle of Hoth, Norssohn re-drew the cockpit and astromech station to look similar to that of the Incom T-47 Airspeeder. The result was a a small nimble ship to ship fighter that was not meant for exploration or long haul flights. ]] When Bai'yle Norssohn died at the Battle of Orupia, long time friends Gern Stargazer and Tekk Larr immediately set about working on a ship in his memory. Having come across the BN-1 design schematics, Gern quickly came to the conclusion to use these designs and so rushed the vessel into development. The project soon became one of the focal points undertaken by S.S.I that year, as production of the prototype interceptor made quick progress and stayed largely true to the ship's original designs. With many Alliance pilots learning out about the production, a few of their premier pilots stepped forward to pilot the prototype Nub-Wing during the testing stages. By the beginning of 7 ABY, Stargazing Shipyards Inc had already received orders from the Rebel Alliance, Chandrila Space Authority as well as a few private collectors for the vessel, even though the ship had not entered full production. The vessel eventually began shipping by the second quarter of that year. Having been the work of Bai'yle Norssohn, all profits made from the sale of the small interceptor were used to establish a Flight Academy on Chandrila and an Engineering School on Corellia, both of which are named in honour of Bai'yle Norssohn. In 9 ABY after the destruction of the Chandrila Academy, a second Flight Academy was also built on Orupia. Category:Alliance Starships Category:Other Starships